Surprises
by chainspell
Summary: Akira tries to keep a visit to Tokyo secret to surprise Haru, but it doesn't go quite as planned. Post True Ending.


Sojiro messaged him early in the morning, just as he was boarding the train for Tokyo.

She's working alone this afternoon. Should be quiet.

Futaba messaged him around lunchtime, right after he made his line transfer in Shibuya.

Mission Surprise guaranteed success! Successfully cleared out all possible enemies! Infiltration OK! See you soon, Joker! ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

Morgana had propped himself on Akira's shoulder, reading the message curiously. "Futaba really wanted to help out, huh?"

"Seems so," Akira said. He slid his phone back into his jacket pocket, gazing out as the familiar buildings that rushed by in a blur of color. Usually, little bothered him, but there had been a tightness forming in Akira's chest all morning that was becoming almost unbearable to handle. His hands were starting to sweat with each minute that ticked by, as he thought of the approaching moment that was meant to surprise her, but now he was having his doubts.

Everyone else knew that Akira was coming into town for the holiday weekend. Ryuji insisted they go for a run after a few hours at the arcade, Ann wanted to take him out to Shibuya's latest dessert bar, Makoto insisted they have dinner together with everyone over the weekend, Yusuke had a few new pieces on display at an art gallery that he wanted Akira to see in person, and Futaba was eager to show Akira her new computer setup. Half of him expected that Ryuji would slip up, that Makoto wouldn't be able to hide the news, or Ann would act too suspiciously. But based on Futaba's text, he figured that the plan was still in motion, and that Haru didn't have a clue.

"Now arriving at Yongen-Jaya. Yongen-Jaya. Doors will open on the right," the intercom spoke, pulling Akira from his thoughts. Morgana slinked back into Akira's bag as the train slowed to a stop and Akira stepped towards one of the doors. For a holiday, the trains were emptier than he expected when he switched onto the line for Yongen-Jaya, but he appreciated the space and quiet.

A family that had been seated near him seemed to be getting off at the same spot, the mother and father both holding onto one of their son's hands as he walked between them. Akira watched them out of the corner of his eye as the doors opened and they stepped off the train. He stepped out the door and over the line into the station, only having a moment to look around before a force collided with his chest and almost caused him to step back into the train.

"Woah!" Morgana yowled, jumping out of Akira's bag onto the ground. "Couldn't you stand to be more careful?"

"Sorry!" Futaba said, though there wasn't a hint of apology in her voice as she stopped hugging Akira. "Just so excited to see Akira-and you too, Morgana, did you gain weight?"

A wide grin spread across Futaba's face as she crouched down to pull the side of Morgana's cheeks. "I-I most certainly did not-will you stop it?"

"Stop what?" Futaba teased, letting go of Morgana and pushing herself up off the ground, now turning towards Akira. "How was the ride?"

"Fine," Akira responded, adjust the strap on his bag. "You said Leblanc should be empty?"

"It's genius," Futaba said proudly, now leading the way outside of the station. She motioned her hand for Akira to follow, before clasping it with her other one behind her back. "Just don't tell Sojiro."

"What did you do?" Morgana asked suspiciously, holding pace with Akira as they followed Futaba up the stairs out of Yongen-Jaya station and into a familiar side street. It quickly drowned out the noise of the traffic on the main street.

There was a slight spring in each of Futaba's steps and she began to hum an upbeat tune. If she had heard Morgana's question, Futaba decided to ignore it as they passed the restaurants and bath house, before arriving in front of Leblanc.

The sign was switched to Closed, and Futaba laughed as she pushed up the bridge of her glasses. "Genius, right?"

"Impressive," Akira said. He glanced down at Morgana, who was staring up at the sign in disbelief. "Though...Boss won't be too happy if he found out." He reached out to the sign and switched it back to Open. "Don't switch it back."

Futaba pouted, and crouched down to pat Morgana on the head, who seemed reluctant at first but then slowly nudged his head against Futaba's hand. "Thought you'd want to spend some quality time with Haru."

Akira shrugged his shoulders and grabbed onto the door handle. "There will be plenty of time for that."

"Have fun," Futaba told him as Akira pulled open the door and stepped inside Leblanc. He let the door close naturally behind him, leaving Morgana and Futaba outside. The scent of fresh coffee and curry filled his nose instantly, making him feel nostalgic, remembering the first time he wandered through the door in his Shujin uniform. It was so unwelcoming the first time, sleeping in the attic. But now, it felt more like home than home ever did.

Akira picked up on the sounds of clattering pans from the back, where the fridge and curry pot was. On the counter sat two cups usually meant for coffee. As he stepped towards them, he was surprised to find them empty, expectant cups waiting for their opportunity to be filled.

"There you are!" He looked up to see her standing there, beaming. Haru's face was tinged pink, presumably from working in Leblanc on her own for most of the day. Her hair was partially pulled up, a high, wispy ponytail while stray strands framed the sides of her face. There was a thin line of sweat along her hairline that shone in Leblanc's dim lighting. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

She looked beautiful.

"Who told you?" Akira asked as he sat himself at the bar in front of the empty cups. Haru giggled as she strode towards the other end of the bar to grab a french press, her preferred method of making coffee.

"No one," Haru said. "Everyone was just obvious enough that I came to the conclusion on my own."

Akira smiled slightly at this as he watched Haru open up the press and pour coffee grounds in. He couldn't help but wonder if he was being obvious too, as they exchanged text messages back and forth lamenting about the holidays and how he wouldn't be there. "Who was the most obvious?"

"Well..." Haru paused as she considered this. "Yusuke kept talking about how someone really important was going to look at his artwork at an exhibit this weekend, and I knew that most of the critics had already taken a look at this point. But I think it was Mako-chan."

"What did Makoto say?"

Haru picked up the coffee press with both hands and wandered out of sight again, presumably to fill it with boiling water that had been heated with the curry pot. However, her cheerful voice carried far, as she continued the conversation. "She wanted all of us to get together for dinner! We haven't done that in months, we've all been busy with school, and I've been helping with the planning for the Okumura cafe chain, plus helping out here at Leblanc."

She returned holding the French press between her hands, which were covered with a cloth to avoid burning her hands. After setting it down gingerly in front of Akira, she tucked the cloth into the pocket of her apron and ducked down underneath the bar. Akira pulled out his phone as she reappeared with a spoon, which she dipped into the water and coffee ground filled press gingerly, rotating it slowly to break up a thin layer of grounds that had formed at the top.

"How long?" He asked her.

"Six minutes," she said, and Akira set the timer on his phone for six minutes. "This is a new blend that Sojiro-san and I have been interested in-it's known as Monsooned Indian." Haru returned Akira's smile, placing the spoon beside the press and now moving to put the lid on top, plunger side up. "You can start...now."

Akira started the timer on his phone and set it down on the table so he could an eye on it. Haru pulled the cloth back out from the pocket of her apron, wiping off her hands slowly.

"Are you hungry? Do you want any curry?" She asked.

"I'm fine," Akira said. "I would like for you to sit with me for a bit, though. Before any customers come in."

Haru's pink face turned into crimson at this request. She walked around the bar slowly and then sat herself down at the seat to the left of him, reaching out to trace her finger around the top of the coffee cup that was put in place for her. Akira glanced back at the timer on his phone to give a moment for Haru to calm herself down. After a few more seconds of silence, he turned towards her and her eyes met his.

"Oh, I forgot," she straightened up, her eyes widening. She reached down into the pocket of her apron to pull out her phone. "Do you remember Ann-chan being the promotional face for the cafes when they launch?"

Akira nodded. Haru unlocked her phone and fiddled it with a few more seconds, before tilting the screen towards him. "I got back the first concepts this morning for the promos. They're just sketches, but I'd like to know what you think."

Curiously, Akira reached out to grab Haru's phone to take a better look at the images. The first one he saw seemed to be intended to be for the subways, a sketch of a girl with Ann's unmistakable pigtails pouring a cup of coffee behind a bar. Behind her was shelves filled with coffee, and to the right of her were drip presses to seemingly show the coffee making techniques in use by the cafe.

"Reminds me a little of Leblanc," he said. He swiped to bring up another sketch, this one showing the same proto-Ann serving coffee to a couple seated at a table. This shone through with more of Haru's personal touch, however, instead of a booth the couple were seated on the same side of a small round table-it suggested some sort of intimacy. "This one has more of you in it."

"There's a few more, but they're basically the same," Haru responded, as Akira handed her phone back. "I was going for a Leblanc feeling, though, especially with the first one."

Akira nodded. "Well, I'd say you succeeded."

Haru seemed to radiate at this, before leaning over to glance at his phone. Akira turned his neck to check as well, realizing the coffee had three more minutes to steep before it would need to be pressed. He slid his cup to the side and gripped onto the handle of the press it bring it closer to him, ready to press down when the timer started going off.

"Have you started thinking about schools yet?" Haru asked him. As he looked at her, he could see a slight anxiety on her face, while she kept up a smile her brows were furrowed. Even though Akira had fairly good grades-nothing amazing unless he really applied himself-he hadn't started seriously looking at schools even though Makoto kept sending him webpages to suggestions of where to apply. All, of course, in the Tokyo area.

"A little," he said. "I mean, I don't really care as long as it's Tokyo..."

Part of Akira wished he could just return to Tokyo and work at Leblanc, or at Rafflesia. Hell, he'd even work at both of them during the day if he had to. Leblanc in the days to serve coffee and Rafflesia in the evenings to sell flowers seemed like a good work schedule to him. However, he could tell that his response didn't appease Haru, who was usually very carefree during their discussions of future plans.

"Has Makoto been getting to you?" he asked curiously, and Haru quickly shook her head no.

"That's not it at all," she said. "I was just a little worried...that you'd have to end up going somewhere else because you couldn't get into a school in Tokyo."

A smile spread on Akira's face, even though it was amused, there wasn't a hint of cruelty in it. "Haru...do you know how many schools are in Tokyo?"

Haru was quiet. "A lot."

"I'll do the entrance exam for all the schools in Tokyo if I have to," Akira told her. "And if I still don't get into a school, then I'll just beg Sojiro to live in the attic and work here."

"You wouldn't have to live in the attic!" Haru exclaimed in alarm, causing the smile on Akira's face to grow even wider. "What's so funny?"

Akira shrugged his shoulders and glanced back towards the phone. Less than a minute was left now on the timer for the French press. "Well, it was a joke. The living in the attic part, you know I like working here. I was just assuming I'd be living with you."

"Oh," Haru said quietly. He looked back towards her to see that her face was completely red now, and her hands were fidgeting in her lap. "I...assumed that, too."

Akira responded as casually as possible. "That's good to hear. It okay if I press this a few seconds early?"

"Of course," Haru said as Akira cancelled the timer and then brought the press a little bit closer to himself. Gently, he began to press down on the plunger to filter out the grounds from the coffee water. "I haven't had the chance to try this blend myself yet, to be honest. I was wanting to share my first cup with you."

"It's that special, huh," Akira mused as he continued to press down on the plunger. "What's it supposed to taste like?"

"The beans are exposed to monsoon rains for a few months to get rid of the acidity, so it's apparently very sweet for coffee," Haru explained. "But there's a hint of chocolate and nuts in the flavoring, too."

Akira finished pressing down on the plunger, and as he moved to begin to pour, Haru quickly pulled the handle of the press towards her and began to pour Akira a cup first. When she first poured coffee for him months ago, her hand shook, but now it was remarkably stable-no hint of hesitation or nerves. After finishing Akira's cup, she moved onto her own, and Akira admired the steam that rose from the coffee. He could already tell from its sweetish smell and color that it was going to be a particularly rich tasting cup.

"There we go," Haru said to herself as she set the press back down on the bar. Akira picked up his cup and Haru mimicked his motion, waiting for him to bring himself to sip first.

"You went through the trouble of waiting," Akira said. "You first."

"Alright," Haru nodded and took a small sip from her cup. A tender expression formed on her face as she continued to hold the cup in her hand, but she then surprisingly took another sip-usually Haru savored the flavor of coffee after the first sip, sometimes taking over a minute to take the second one. Akira brought the cup to his mouth and took a similarly small sip, and then set the cup back on the counter to consider it's flavor.

Just as Haru said, there was no hint of acidity-it was instead a sweet flavor, but not overwhelmingly so. Almost as if the coffee had a bit of sugar added to it naturally. A moment later, his mouth felt curiously milky and he recognized the taste of chocolate with the earthiness of some nuts. He never had tasted coffee like this before, with such a deep flavor and evolving profile. "It's certainly better than what we had at the Wilton."

Haru giggled. "There's no animal dung involved, just lots of rain."

"It's very sweet," he observed.

"But it feels a little creamy in aftertaste, right?"

"Yes," he agreed. "I don't think I've had a flavor that...changes so much."

Haru nodded in agreement, setting the cup back down on the bar. "I wanted something...something nice for whenever you visited. I'm just glad it was sooner than I thought it would be."

A pang of guilt hit Akira in his chest. "I'm sorry to keep it secret from you. I just wanted it to be a surprise."

Haru seemed thoughtful. "Well, next time you want to surprise someone, maybe just tell me instead of everyone else. It'd probably be more successful."

He considered her words, then laughed. "You're probably more trustworthy than everyone else."

Haru winked. "If I invite everyone for coffee, no one will get suspicious, at least."


End file.
